Cops: Ex-chaplain Estranged From Family Kills Daughter, Self

Cops: Ex-chaplain Estranged From Family Kills Daughter, Self
Claire Randall. (Gretchen Ertl/Providence Journal via AP)
The Associated Press
12/9/2016
Updated:
12/9/2016

HEBRON, Maine—A former university and Air Force chaplain bought a shotgun after completing treatment for substance abuse and drove to the home of his estranged family, where he killed his adult daughter and then himself, police said Friday.

A neighbor discovered the bodies of Daniel Randall, 56, and Claire Randall, 27, on Thursday in Hebron. Police said Daniel Randall shot and killed Claire Randall in the bathroom. They believe he then killed himself. His body was found on a porch with a shotgun nearby.

Daniel Randall had broken into the house through a garage door, police said. They said he had just completed substance abuse treatment in Portland when he left Thursday, bought a shotgun, drove to the home and committed the shootings.

Police said Randall spray-painted messages to his family on the walls of five rooms of the house before shooting himself. They did not immediately disclose what the messages said.

Claire Randall had recently moved from Rhode Island to stay with her mother and teenage brother. Neither the mother nor brother was home at the time of the shootings, police said.

From 2009 to 2012, Roger Williams University paid Daniel Randall as a vendor to be an affiliated chaplain. Randall was also a former pastor at First Congregational Church in Bristol, Rhode Island, WJAR-TV reported.

Police in Maine said Randall also once served as a chaplain in the Air Force.